Printing-press.



W. P. ALLEN da L. SCHLBSINGER. PRINTING PRESS. APPLICATIDNTILED DEQ. 1o, 1909.

1,048,476, Patented Dec. 31, 1912.

Z SHEETS-SHEET 1.

60%,. fil/2%.

W. P. ALLEN & L. SGHLBSINGER. HUNTING PRESS.

APPLICATION FILED DEO. 10, 1909,

1,048,476. Patented 1169.31, 1912.

2 SHBETSSHEET 2.

Unten sri-ans ATEN'I OFFICE.

WALLACE P. ALLEN AND LOUIS SCHLESINGER, 0F MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN; SAID ALLEN ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, T0 SAID SCHLESINGER.

PRINTING-PRESS.

Speccation ofmetters Patent.

Patented Dec. 31,1912.

Application tiled December 10, 1909. Serial No. 532,321.

To all whom Ztmay concern:

Be it known .that We,WALLAon P. ALLEN and LOUIS SCBLESINGER, citizens of the United States, residing at Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements i n Printing-Presses, of which the followlng 1s a specication, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming a part thereof.

This invention relates to platen printing presses, and the object of the invention is to secure a uniform distribution of ink Vupon the form from which Ithe impressions are taken.

In certain types of printing presses known as platen presses, which are in common use in printing establishments, the form is inked by composition rollers which pick up the ink from a distributing disk or plate and are then rolled over the typo or plates composing the form to cover them with ink. The rollers are then run back over the inked form to be out of the way of the paper and platen while the impression is taken and to return them to the ink plate or disk to pick up a fresh supply of ink. It is apparent that it is necessary, to insure good results in printing, for the inking rollers to be supplied, in the first instance, with a uniform quantity of ink from the inking plate or disk, and for the ink supplied to them to .be evenly distributed over the whole face of the type or plates included in the form, and that on the return passage ofgthe rollers over the already inked form the irnk adhering to the types and plates shall npt be removed. ln order that the inkingr rillers shall receive a uniform supply of int( from the ink plate or disk it is necessary i that the ink shall be uniformly distributed on said plate or disk, and in' order that. the

rtype or plates shall receive a uniform supf ply of ink it is necessary that the ink be uniformly distributed over said rollers. lf it were possible to provide an ink plate or disk the first place' backward movement pass over thc inked form, they will pick up from the form, ink` which has been deposited thereon, in the same way and to the same extent that they pick up ink fromY the ink plate or disk, so that it; is necessary to provide mechanism or, means whereby the ink will not be picked up from the inked form, or if ink is picked up from the inked form, that it shall be done uniformly so that the impression taken from the form will show the ink uniformly distributed.

A common form of platen printingr press which is extensively used by printers, provided with an ink plate or disk which is intermittently rotated, this disk being usually placed in an inclined position and the ink is applied upon its upper edge by hand or by an ink fountain. `llcretofore it has been common to utilize the friction between this ink disk and the inking' rollers 'for causing the inking rollers to roll over said disk, both to distribute the ink uniformly on said disk and to receive their supply of ink from the disk, but as these rollers are liable to he movedv over the disk without revolving exactly according to their speed of progression or their rectilinear movement on the press, the slip thus resulting' causc an uneven distribution of the ink upon the disk and rollers, and, moreover, the rollers are also liable to slip when passing; over the form,t'herehy causing a further imperfect and uneven distribution :df ink over the form. After thc ink by contact with the form has been removed from parts of t 1e inkiug` rollers. those parts from which the ink has been removed arc ready to pick up ink when the \V pass over an inked part of the form. the result being' that the impression shows `ghosts or other parts of the form, instead of showing a completely inked surface. This result it has been attempted to obviat'e by providing' a socalled metallic distributing roller tp revolve in Contact with the composition inking' rollers and to he moved longitudinally with respect to the composition rollers. whereby any spots on the roller.` from which the ink has been taken by tue form are covered again with ink from the parts of the rollers still supplied with ink: but the mechanisn'l adopted has been faulty. as the metallic roller has been driven by its frictional contact with the composition rollers and the motion of the composition rollers has been caused by friction with the ink disk and form.

Heretofore attempts have been made to drive the inking rollers positively by some form of driving mechanism. 1n -most of these attempts on platen presses, however, the driving mechanism was attached directly to the inking rollers. These inking rollers, being made of a composition which swells and shrinks, change their diameters continually, thus making a positive drive of these rollers a practical impossibility, which is evidenced by the factthat on platen presses not a single device which positively drives the inking rollers is in actual use. Y

By changing the positive drive from the ever changing composition rollers to a socalled metallic roller which always retains its size and position and is held always in uniform contact with the composition rollers so that it in turn always drives them by frictional contact, all slip and other-'diftieulties heretofore encountered by attempts to directly drive the composition inking rollers on a platen press are eliminated because the peripheral movement of the metallic driving roller is constant for the same travel and therefore produces a constant peripheral movement of the composition rollers for the same travel, or rectilinear movement on the press, whether the composition rollers swell or shrink with a consequent hange of size.

The purpose o-f this invention is to provide a platen press with composition rollers for distributing ink upon the disk of the press and for inking the form, a longitudinally movable metallic roller, so called, frictionally engaged with said composition rollers to drive said composition rollers in exact accordance with their rectilinear movement on the press or the progressive movement of said composition rollers over the disk and the form, means to positively drive said metallic roller itself. in accordance with its rectilinear movement on the press whereby all slipping of the inkingflj'ollers either upon the ink disl or form is olii'iated, and whereby the ink upon the inking rollers is uniformly distributed thereon after any part of the inking rollers have touched the form and before that part can again toucli the form, means for adjusting the composition rollers with respect to the metallic roller, means to cause limited lengthwise movements of said metallic roller and adapted to permit continued rotation of said metallic rollery when its lengthwise movements are arrested, and generally to improve the inking mechanism of platen presses in the manner described and claimed.

Referring to the drawings which accompany this specification and form a part thereof and on which drawings the same reference characters are used to designate of the associated parts; Fig. 5 is an elevation of one of the saddles and some of its associated parts, parts being shown in section and broken away to clearly show the construction thereof; Fig. G is a vertical section taken on the line b-'b of Fig. et; Fig. 7 is a plan view of the other saddle and some of the associated parts; and Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken on the line c-c of Fig. 7.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the movable back of an ordinary form of Gordon platen press, said back being adapted to receive the form to be printed. The numeral 2 designates the platen of the press, 3 the ink disk, It a connecting rod which rocks the back 1, and 5 a stationary bar. which causes the frame 6 to which the saddles are secured, to oscillate about the pivot A7 when the back l is rocked by the connecting rod 4. These parts of the press and the press generally do not require to be further described herein,as they are all old and well known, and this invention can be used with any form of platen press towhich it is adapted.

T he frame G is provided with the reciprocable rods 8, to which are pivotally secured thesaddles 9 and 10 by suitable pivots or pins. The rods 8 are provided with yieldable means as, for example, springs 11. which tend to press the inking rollers against the inkl disk 3 and the .form in the well known manner.

ln order to positively drive the metallic distributing roller, a rack 1Q is secured to the press conforming to the path of movemeut of the rollers over the ink disk and form, and the metallic roller 13 is provided with a pinion 14 splincd or otherwise secured to the shaft 15 of roller 153, so that it will 'positively rotate roller 13 while permitting the shaft. 15 to be moved lengthwise therethrough. A pinion 16 is provided which is adapted to mesh both with rack 12 and vpinion 1-1 and positively rotate' pinion 1-/1 as the frame 6 and the saddles and rollers are moved, and for convenience this pinion 16 may be mounted on the reduced hub of the bearing roller 17, as clearly shown by Fig. 3 of the drawings, but this pinion 16 is adapted to be revolved independently of the bearing roller 17. 'The specific construction shown by the drawings is adopted simply to save space and to economize material by mounting the'pinion 1.6 upon a suitable and available sup- If now frame 6 be rocked so as to and form, pinion 16 will be rotated by reason of its engagement with rack 12 and will rotate pinion 14, thereby rotating metallic roller 13, and by frictional contact metallic t j roller 13 willA rotate the inking rollers 18 and 19 at the exactnrate at which they progress over the ink disk and form, or, in other words, the peripheral speed of rotation of the `rollers corresponds to their reci tilinear movementon the press.

The saddles 9 and 10 are preferably substantially duplicates each of the other, and

each saddle is composed o a body portion 20 formed with a downwardly projecting lug' 21 to which a rod 8 is pivoted by pivot 22. These body portions of the saddles are further provided at their extremities with downwardly p'rojectingllugs 23, 24, between which and the lug 2l t e inking roller journal boxes are adapted to be received.

The top of each of the body portions of the saddles is provided with a recess 25, the lower, part of which is provided with a rounded' depression 26 adapted to receive 4theshaft 15 of the metallic roller 13.

` pivoted upon a stud or screw 30 at one end,

its other end being provided with an open slot 3l for the reception'of the screw 32 which carries the thumb nut 33 for clamping the latch 29 upon the block 27 in order to hold the shaft 15 securely in the saddle. The tops of the latches 29 are formed with depressions 310 adjacent the open slots 31 to receive the lower ends of the thumb nuts 32%, clearly shown by Figs. 4, 5 and 8 of the drawings, and as the slots 3l are of less width than the diameters of said depressions 310 and the lower ends of the nuts 33, the latches 29 cannot be swung on .their pivots or screws 30 unless 'and until the thumb nuts 33 are unscrewed suflicientlj to lift. their lower ends entirely out of said depressions 310. This feature of construction prevents the latches from-swinging loose and liberating the blocks 27 and shaft 15 if the thumb nuts 33 should become unscrewed a little. rlhe top of each of the saddles 1s provided with elongated slots 34, 35, 36, 37, within which are received screws provided with heads andy these screws engage in screwthreaded apertures in the journal boxes for the inking rollers. Washers may be interposed between the heads of these screws and the saddles, if desired. The elongated slots permit the journal boxes for the inking rollers 4to be moved either toward or away from the downwardly projecting lugs 21, and also provide for clamping said journal boxes to the saddles.

The down wardly projecting lugs 23 and 24 are each provided with a slot in the lower extremity thereof, and screws 38 and 39 are passed through screwthreaded apertures in the journal boxes for the inlcing rollers and bear at one end against the downwardly projecting lugs 2 1, while heads 380 and 390 on said screws bear against the inside surfaces of the downwardly projecting lugs 23 and 24. The slotted extremities of the screws project into said slots so that the screws can be easily turned by Screwdrivers. By this arrangement of parts it will be readily seen that by loosening the screws in the elongated slots 34, 35, 36 and 37, the journal boxes for the inking rollers are no longer clamped immovably to thebodies 20 of the saddles, and by then rotating screws 38 and 39, said journal boxes can be moved toward or away from the downwardly projecting lugs 21 with the result that the inkingr rollers 18 and 19 are moved toward or away from the metallic roller 13, and that after the rollers have been moved to the desired positions the journal boxes may be clamped to the bodies 20 of the saddles by means f the screws in the elongated slots 34, 35, 3G and 37. The purpose and function of this adjustable arrangement of the journal boxes for the inking`rollers is to overcome difficulties heretofore experienced in attempting to drive inking rollers by frictional contact with a metallic vroller The inking rollers are what are known'its composition rollers and these rollers swell and shrink according to changing conditions, as age, &c., which are well known to practical printers, and it is essential to be able to maintain a good frictional contact between the peripheries of the composition or inking rollers and the metallic driving roller, in order that the inking be properly done. With the construction of saddles above described the inking rollers can be moved toward or away from the metallic roller 13 so as to obtain the proper adjustment. or frictional contact between the inking rollers and the metallic roller when the inking rollers used with the press are'new or old, or when the inking rollers have shrunk or swelled from any cause whatsoever.

Small shims of paper or other' suitable material may be inserted between the journal boxes for the inking rollers and the bodies 20 of the saddles ii it is necessary to depress the journal' boxes with reference td the saddles, and the screws 38 and 39 permit such an adjustmentbecause ot' the open slots in the depending lugs 23 and 2-1 within which said screws are received, and said open slots provide for the removal of the journal boxes from the saddles.

Preferably the. journal boxes l2 and t3 on the rack or driving side of the press are blocks with cylindrical apertures therethrough to receive the journals of the inking rollers.y while the journal boXes -l--l and lo on the opposite side of the press are k,provided with open slots, as clearly shown by Fig. 3 of the drawings. This construction permits the inking rollers to be readily removed and replaced. l

The pinion 14 which is splined or otherwise secured to shaltlf'lt so as to rotate said shaft while permitting said shaft to move cndwise therethrough, is provided with a circun'iferential recess elO in its hub within which extends the downwardly turned end of a lip 41 secured preferably to the block Q7 of the saddle 9'. The downwardly turned end of said lip -ll prevents the pinion lfl vfrom being moved lengthwise as the shaft 15 mores therethrough. The opposite end of the shaft 15 is screwthreaded and the rounded depression F26 in the body of saddleA 10 and the rounded depression E28 in its block QT, are made. enough larger than the shaft l5 to receive the cylindricalfnut 490 which is screwthreaded on its interior to engage with the screwthreads on shaft l5, and is provided witli heads lltlland L1110 which prevent it from moving lengthwise of shaft 15 with respect to saddle 10. The shaft l5 is provided with shoulders on opposite sides of said nut which may cont-act with the heads thereof. These shoulders may be conveniently formed as shown by Fig. 3 of the drawings, by reduc-ing the screwthreaded end of shaft l5 so as to form a shoulder 450, and securing a washer t6 on the end of said shaft,v hy' meansy ot' a nu't 47 screwed on to a further reduced part 4S. t 'lho screwthrcaded end `of the shaft 15 and the nut l2() coacting therewith const-itute means to cause limited lengthwise movements of the metallic rolldr and cause the metallic distributing rollerl 13 to be moved lengthwise, in one direction with respect to the inling rollers 18 and 19 when the shaft 15 isi-evolved in one directilin, and cause the metallic distributing rollerK 13 to be moved lengthwise in the opposite direction with respect to the nlring rollers 1S and 19 when the shaft 15 is revolved in the opposite. direct-ion.

-It Amay happen that in assembling the rollers the metallic roller 13 is not placed in its proper position with respect to the sad-l ldies to provide for its predetermined lengthwise movement while ity is being carried by the frame 6 in one direction, and it may loe displaced from its proper position from some other cause, so that said metallic roller 13 will be displaced lengthwise from the po-V means which cause limited lengthwise movements of the 'metallic roller shall permit the metallic roller to be revolved without mov-` ing the metallic rollerlengthwise, so that when the metallic roller reaches its limit of lengthwise movement in either direction it can still be revolved, but` will be prevented from moving lengthwise any farther, and any dangerous strain upon lthe saddles or accident to the press is thus eliminated. This result is accomplished in the following manner: The cylindrical nut 420 can revolve within the depressions 26 and 2S, and one of its heads, as for example, the head 440 is provided with V--shaped depressions 49 within which a correspondingly V-shaped tooth 50 carried by a standard 51 rigidly attached to block 7 of the saddle 10 or formed as an integral part of saidv block, is adapted to extend. This standard 51 is provided with a. bore 52 at one end through which the tooth 50 projects and is counter-bored to a larger diameter, as shown by F ig. 3 of the drawings, so as to receive the enlarged head 53 of the tooth 50. tween the head of tooth 50 and a Screw 55 `screwed into a screwthreaded part of the bore of the vstandard 51, said screw 55 permitting a proper tension to be placed upon 'arsl A spring -it isLsecured bespring 54, a lock nut 56 being provided toy preventdisplacement of the screw 55 if desired. Vith this arrangement just described, if 'the metallic rollermoves lengthwise in either direction so that shoulder L150 or washer or shoulder -lG contacfts with mit '420, the friction between either of said shoulders and nutl 420 will be suflicient to cause said nut 420 to revolve with shaft 15 and its screwtl'ireaded end, because the tooth 502 will be forced out of the notches 49 in the head 440, as will be readily understood, so that metallic roller 13 can revolve and nut 4:20 will revolve with it, whereby no lengthwise movement of metallic roller 13 will result until the roller has reached itslimit of upward or downward movement on the press and starts to revolve in `the opposite diteti-v tion on its return movement, when its screwthreaded end will readily screw through nut 420 and cause the `rol1er`to move lengthwise again, as it should.

' In order to avoid any possibility ofpinion 16 jumping out of mesh with rack 12?, means may be 4provided to retain s mesh with 'said rack 12. t-fa the drawings these means are shown as a roller '57 beneath rack 12 supported on a stud 58 project-lng from an armot). For convenienceo/f conrau' pinion 16 in l struction arm 59 may be made integral with journal box 43. The under side ot' rack 12 may be cut away or narrowed at its angles, as shown by the drawings. at the places designated by the mnnerals (5() and (il, so that there will be no tendency for pinion 1G and roller 57 to bindthe saddle at the Curves ot' the rack.

It will be noticed from an inspection of the drawings that the metallic roller 13 is set low in the saddles so that in adjusting the inking rollers against it there will be little tendency for thc inking rollers to wedge under the metallic roller and lift it and the saddles.

The pinions 14 and 1G may be of the same size or of different sizes depending upon the diameter of the metallic roller. They should be so ,proportioned that the peripheral speed ol the metallic roller is the sameas its rectilinear speed on the press, or in other words, the speed of rotation of the metallic roller shouldbe just the same as if it were rolled over the ink disk and form with no slip. As this matter of proportion or sizes of pinions is a subject with which every mechanic is familiar, it need not be discussed further in this specification.

It is readily apparent that the elongated slots in the saddles, the screws passing therethrough,- the serews 38 and 39 and the journal boxes, provide simple and etlicient means for adjusting the inking rollers against the metallic roller, and that the rack 12 and pin-` ions 14 and 16 provide simple and efficient means for positively rotating the metallic nroller so that its peripheral speed of rotation corresponds to the press.

While We have illust-rated and described its rectilinear speed on .what we consider to be the preferred strucfrom the spirit of our invention as defined by the claims appended hereto.

'What is claimed is:

l. The ,combination with a platen printing press of two inking rollers, a metallic roller located between said inking rollers, saddles, means for adjusting said inking rollers against said metallic roller so that they will be revolved by said metallic roller because of their irictional contact therewith7 a rack secured tothe press, a pinion adapted to rotate said metallic roller, means for preventing longitudinal movement of said pinion, a second pinion adapted to mesh with said first menti :med pinion a d rack, a screwthreaded sl att for said mttallic roller -and a screwthreaded member toicoact therewith to cause said metallic ro ler to move lengthwise when it is rotated by aid pinions,

2. The combination with a platen printing press of two inking rollers, a metallic roller located between said inking rollers, saddles, means for adjusting said inking rollers against said metallic roller so that they will he revolved by said metallic roller-because of their frictional contact therewith, a screwthrcaded shaft for said metallic roller, a screwthreaded member to coact therewith, a pinion so secured to said shaft as to rotate said shaft while permitting the shaft to `move lengthwise with respect thereto, a rack secured to the press, and a second pinion adapted to mesh with said first mentioned pinion and said rack.

3. The combination with a platen printing press of saddles, a metallic roller carried-by said saddles, inking rollers adapted to be revo ved because of their frictional Contact iifith said metallic roller, said metallic roller being provided with a shaft having a screwthreaded end, a nut carried by one of said saddles and engaged with the screwthreaded end of said shaft, a yieldahle connection between said nut and the saddle, and means for positively rotating said metallic roller so that its peripheral speed of rotation corresponds to its rectilinear speed on the press.

4. The combination with a platen printing press of saddles, a metallic roller carried by said saddles, inking rollers adapted to he revolved because of their frictional contact'I with said metallic roller, said metallic roller being provided with a shaft having a"screwthreadcd end, a cylindrical nut provided with heads carried 'by one of said saddles and engaged with the screwthreaded end ot' said shaft, one of the heads of said cylindrical nut being provided with depressions and a yieldable tooth supported by the saddle, and means for positively rotatingr said metallic roller so that its peripheral Speed of rotation corresponds to its rectilinear speed on the press.

5. A saddle for a platen printing press provided with a recess in its body portion for the reception of a roller, a block adapted to he received within said recess, a latch pivoted to said saddle at one end and provided with an open slot at its other end and a depression adjacent said slot, a screw secured to said-saddle adapted to be received within said slot, and a nut for said screw adapted to enter the depression in said latch.

6. A saddle for a platen printing press composed of abody portion having two depending lugs one ol which is adapted to be secured to a rod ot the roller frame, the other of said lugs being provided with a slot in its lower extremity, the body portion of said saddle being also provided with clongated slots, a journal box secured to said saddle between said lugs by screws which pass through said elongated slots, and a LoeeAf/e screw provided with a head and a slotted n Witness whereof we hereto afx our sigend extending through a screwthreaded apnatures in presence of two Witnesses. elture in said journal box and bearing at WALLACE P. ALLEN# one end against one of Said lugs with its LOUIS SCHLESINGER. sloted end received Within Jshe slot of the Vt-neSses: other lug and its head bearing against the Cime L. Goss,

inside surface of said. last mentioned lug. FRANK E. BENNETT. 

